brainpopfandomcom-20200223-history
Etymology/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim tightens the last screw on a box inside the chest of Moby. TIM: Ok, that should do it. Your speech function is now installed! MOBY: Hello, Tim. You are my best friend. Thank you for the gift of speech. Now give me 50 dollars. TIM: No! I don't have 50 dollars. MOBY: Give me 50 dollars. Give me 50 dollars. Give me 50 dollars. Give me 50… Tim opens up Moby's ear flap and turns a screw inside his ear with a screwdriver. This deactivates Moby's speech. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, that's better. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, Where do words come from? I've always wanted to know! From, Kaylin. Well, words come from lots of different places! The study of word origins is called etymology. Every language has its own history, so we can't possibly tell you everything there is to know. The names of different languages scroll across the screen. TIM: But no matter what the language, there are a few basic ways that words come into it. The first is by borrowing from another language. For example, the word kimono comes from Japanese. English-speaking people heard it, and took the word for themselves. An image shows a Japanese woman wearing a kimono. Her speech bubble shows the word in Japanese. Then an English-speaking woman appears and her speech bubble shows the word in English. TIM: There are plenty of other words like this: bagel from Yiddish; ukulele from Hawaiian; and shampoo from Hindi. Words like these are called loan words. Images show the three things Tim lists. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Yeah, I don't know why they're called that. I mean, it's not like we're gonna give them back! Words are also formed by combining older words together. For example, the word laser is an acronym: an abbreviation that uses letters from several other words. Laser actually stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The word LASER appears with an image of a laser. The letters in the word are stacked vertically, followed by the words each letter stands for. TIM: The word railroad jams two words together. That's called compounding. Side by side images of a rail and a road appear above the image of railroad tracks. TIM: And you can build new words by adding prefixes and suffixes to an already existing root word. Like the word unverifiable takes the word verify, and then adds the suffix -able and the prefix un- to form an entirely new word. That's called agglutination. The word verify is shown and the suffix and prefix are added to it. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, words can develop new meanings over time, too. The word husband came from two words that meant house owner. But since houses were usually owned by married men, it eventually took on a different meaning. An image shows a man in front of a house. Then he is joined by his wife. TIM: And the word hazard originally referred to a kind of dice game. Since gamblers risked their money, hazard came to mean a risk or danger. An image shows a man throwing dice. The image expands to show a falling-rocks hazard sign and rocks falling near the man's head. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Yeah, languages evolve really fast. Take English. You couldn't understand English as it was spoken fifteen hundred years ago. It was a completely different language! Back then, England was populated by a Germanic tribe called the Anglo-Saxons. Their language, Old English, was a lot like German. An image shows an Anglo-Saxon man and woman. The woman's speech bubble reads, forgive man hundred. TIM: When missionaries came from Rome to convert them to Christianity, Latin words like priest, temple, and angel came into the language. And when Vikings invaded from Scandinavia, Norse words like skull, cut, and anger came into use. An Italian missionary and a Viking join the Ango-Saxons on screen. Their respective speech bubbles show the words Tim names. TIM:In 1066, a group of French invaders called the Normans conquered England. A Norman joins the group on screen. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yup, you guessed it. A ton of French words entered the language. The image shows the Norman's speech bubble and the words dungeon, bacon, and squirrel. TIM: Then during the Renaissance, English writers like William Shakespeare, John Milton, and Edmund Spenser elevated the language to new heights. Side by side images show these three writers. TIM: But sometimes, these guys found that they just couldn't express themselves the way they wanted to. So whenever they needed a new word, they'd just invent one! An animation shows Shakespeare writing. His thought bubble shows him inventing the word Moonbeam. TIM: Usually, they'd build a new word from a Latin or Greek root, since those were the classical languages they'd studied in school. Many of these words, like geography and automatic, denoted scientific or technical terms that just didn't exist before the Renaissance. Side by side images show the words geography and automatic and the meaning of their Latin or Greek roots. Geography comes from geo for earth and graphy for mapping. It is represented by the image of a globe. Automatic comes from auto for self and matic for acting. It is represented by the image of a robot. TIM: Of course, the English language keeps evolving even today. People are inventing and using new words all the time! An animation shows a man at a computer. His thought bubble shows the word Blogosphere. TIM: For instance, a neologism is a recently-created word that can be used to describe some new concept, or to make something sound more up-to-date. Like, the word email is an update on traditional mail that started being used once messages could be sent electronically. Side by side images show an email inbox and an envelope that you mail. They are labeled email and mail, respectively. TIM: And snail mail, a new term for slower, traditional mail, is a neologism that was created as a reaction to the invention of email. The envelope's label changes from mail to snail mail. TIM: Anyway, that's all we've got on etymology. Say goodnight, Moby. Tim turns a screwdriver in Moby's ear. This enables his speech function. MOBY: Goodnight, Moby. Now give me 50 dollars. Tim sighs. TIM: Why can't I have a normal robot like everyone else? Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP English Transcripts